People who taste our Sangiovese often ask why it has such a bright ruby colour, such elegant tannins, that precise scent of cherry and violet. The answer isn't in the cellar: it's in the soil that the people who work our vines walk on, every single day.
Clay, limestone and 300 metres of altitude
Our vines grow on clay-limestone soil, between 250 and 350 metres above sea level, on the hills of Montespertoli, in the heart of the Florentine Chianti. It isn't a detail from an agronomy textbook: it's the reason why Sangiovese, the prince of Tuscan grape varieties, ripens here differently than it does elsewhere. The clay holds water through the hottest months, the limestone drains the excess when it rains, and the roots are forced to go deep to find nourishment — the same effort that, harvest after harvest, gives the wine structure instead of simple sugar.
An exposure we didn't choose
The vines face south, to catch the Tuscan sun as directly as possible throughout the day. It's an exposure we didn't decide: it's the one the hillside gave us, and the one our grandfather chose to plant the first vines on when he bought the estate, in 1965. Since then we've grown almost exclusively native varieties, heirs to viticultural traditions that have been passed down on these hills for millennia, not decades.
Sangiovese never grows alone
In our more structured red wines, Sangiovese is never alone. Canaiolo, a historic companion on these hills, softens its tannic structure with notes of ripe red fruit. Colorino, present in our Premium labels, gives colour intensity and deep aromas of blackberry and dark spice. Even an international variety like Merlot, when it finds a terroir like ours, blends in by bringing softness and notes of plum and chocolate — never overpowering, always accompanying.
Where terroir becomes time: Vin Santo
There's one wine in our production where terroir and time add up to become the same thing: Vin Santo. It's made from Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes — the latter carefully dried — and ages for 4 years in the same chestnut-wood caratelli our family has kept since 1965, the same year our grandfather bought this land. It isn't just a dessert wine: it's the most direct way we have of telling you what time spent on these hills means to us.
Next time you taste a glass of our Sangiovese, you'll know that flavour wasn't born in the cellar: it was born on one precise stretch of Tuscan hillside, between 250 and 350 metres in Montespertoli, that our family has walked for three generations.